Veteran UWC staffers bow out

PASSIONATE: Retired lecturers in the UWC School of Business and Finance Etienne Mentoor and Eslyn Isaacs. Picture: Supplied.

Cape Town - Few lifelong students set foot on campus and hope to never leave. Eslyn Isaacs and Etienne Mentoor did just that, spending more than 30 years on UWC campus where they graduated and went on to lecture.

Now, class is dismissed and the lecturers have finally left to retire.

Isaacs and Mentoor who both live in Kuils River retired from UWC’s faculty of economics and management sciences this year after devoting what many would consider a lifetime to educating others.

Isaacs, from Eerste River, spent his time at the university as an entrepreneurship lecturer researching and teaching about the survival and performance of small businesses.

He said he decided to stay on at the university and educate others after something his maths teacher at high school said stuck with him.

“My teacher complained about the knowledge he accumulated over years of studying which seemed like he would not be able to part with because of the all-white-affair at the time. We study for a long time and use a small amount of the knowledge we acquire at out job, we die with that knowledge.

“I didn’t want to die with the knowledge I have. After I completed my studies I moved from one job to another. Vacancies were primarily for white people, but I knew that I would eventually apply and come back here or go to the Cape Peninsula Technikon,” said Isaacs.

Mentoor, who retired as an entrepreneur lecturer from the School of Business and Finance (SBF), is originally from Grabouw and was one of the first master’s graduates at the SBF at the university. But attaining this honour was no easy task.

Mentoor initially abandoned his BCom studies to work as a surveyor in an engineering company until he had a serious talk with his dad about finishing his degree. He eventually returned to UWC, where he obtained many degrees and also met his wife Zelda.

Mentoor’s advice to others is to do their best and never stop improving.

“Do it gradually, do it properly and keep in mind that some of the team members could be left behind if you move too quickly.

“And find your own identity. Don’t try to be like the rest of the world,”said Mentoor.